The Kuroshio Lodge is one of the oldest and most famous abandoned places in Japan – even pioneer *haikyo* blogs who haven’t been updated in years feature this almost completely trashed hotel with the iconic bar; a beautiful photo opportunity thanks to its rusty stools and bright orange and yellow lamps. Nevertheless I struggled for about a year to find out where the Kuroshio Lodge was… and then another six months to find a ride as it is close to impossible to get to the place by public transportation – luckily it was *on the way to Shikoku* for Gianluigi and I, so we made a stop to stretch our legs and to take some photos.
Kuroshio means “black tide” and is also the name of a northeast-flowing ocean current stretching from Taiwan past Japan to the North Pacific Current – hence the nicknames Black Stream and Japanese Current, deriving from the deep blue of its waters and the country it flows by.
It’s pretty safe to say that the Kuroshio Lodge was named after the current – despite the fact that the Kuroshio (current) isn’t visible from where the lodge is located. The lodge on the other hand isn’t visible from the beautiful coastline of Awaji Island. You can get as close as 100 meters (beeline) on a busy street, look up a hill and see nothing but trees. At the same time you have a gorgeous view at the mountains of Awaji Island and the stunning Seto Inland Sea from the rooftop of the lodge… It’s all a matter of location!
At first and third sight the Kuroshio Lodge is a big disappointment. After huffing and puffing up a rather steep mountain road on foot, Gianluigi and I reached the back of the mid-size grey building. After years without maintenance the outside walls looked dirty, but that was nothing in comparison to what we saw when peeking through some open windows – the exposed rooms were filled with rotting vandalized futons and other interior. Not exactly a great start.
In close proximity of the abandoned hotel we found a couple of small houses at the slope; hut-sized, most likely the former living quarters of employees. We entered one of them, but the lighting in there was horrible and neither of us brought a tripod. There was not much to see anyway – I didn’t even bother to take a video.
Back up the slope we finally entered the Kuroshio Lodge – and were positively surprised by the lobby area with its famous turquoise chairs and the bar with its even more famous lamps and stools. You could take 100 interesting photos there and still won’t be bored!
Sadly disappointment stroke again right behind the counter. The kitchen next to the lobby / bar was completely vandalized and rotten, so we made our way up to 2F (first floor in Europe, second in Japan). No wonder that you barely ever see other rooms than the lobby when people post about the Kuroshio Lodge. The whole rest of the place was either vandalized and rotten or completely boring. I took a couple of snapshots here and there (like the lamp and the bath, although they were not really exciting subjects…) and then called it a day, taking the obligatory video on the way back to the lobby.
Since I visited the Kuroshio Lodge almost two years ago I found several Japanese articles about the hotel claiming that the area is overrun by wild dogs from a former dog breeder close to the hotel. They also claim that those dogs were involved in some rituals… whatever that means. Luckily I didn’t run into any mad dogs, crazy cultists or bloodthirsty sadists – although I remember seeing some kind of triangular sign on a metal plate in the boiler room (the one at the beginning of the video below, I just missed to catch the symbol on film… sorry for that, I didn’t think it was on any significance). The whole thing sounds a little bit like an exaggerated version of the usual ghost story surrounding basically every abandoned hotel in Japan. A lot of Japanese people are surprisingly superstitious, so whenever a place is abandoned you get some variation of the “owner committed suicide” story. Stories that are virtually impossible to verify. Nevertheless I thought I better mention the wild dogs. You know, just in case you walk up to the Kuroshio Lodge one day, get surrounded by them and think “Florian never mentioned those damn dogs!”…
To me the Kuroshio Lodge was a rather disappointing location. I loved the entrance area, but the rest of the building gave me a “been there, done that” kind of vibe – which is not what I was hoping for after putting so much time and effort into finding the place. But hey, what can you do? At least the bar and the lobby didn’t fail to deliver. And sometimes one room is all you need to make a visit worthwhile…
(If you don’t want to miss the latest article you can *follow Abandoned Kansai on Twitter* and *like this blog on Facebook* – and of course there is the *video channel on Youtube*…)
Abandoned Kansai 
Your photos are so vivid – I can almost smell the musty decay.
Thanks, then I’ve done everything right! 🙂
Great shots!
Thanks, much appreciated!
Good idea for your blog . I always enjoy seeing what’s next.
When I began to write Abandoned Kansai nobody wrote in English about modern ruins in western Japan, so I started to fill the blanks other explorers couldn’t cover – I’m happy to hear that you enjoy it!
I wonder, does Japan have thrift shops? I see many stuff I have use for.. like that yellow swivel chair —-> computer chair.
There are thrift shops, but they are not nearly as popular as in Europe or the States. Most of them are very specific, too – like shops that only buy and sell used video games. Or electronics.
Also, there is this urban exploration code of honor, “Take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints”. So even if there was an easy way to sell stuff, I wouldn’t do it.
Maybe you were disappointed – but it looks very interesting to me! Beautiful photos. I am just an armchair visitor to these abandoned places. Thank you for taking me places I would never have “seen” otherwise!
Elephant
Yeah, you know, „disppointed“ is relative. The bar area was fantastic, so I was full of hope that the whole lodge would be as awesome. Sadly it wasn’t. As part of a weekend trip the Kuroshio Lodge was great – if I would have rented a car for a day just to go there… well, I probably would have done it anyway. It’s just that I’ve been to so many abandoned hotels by now… and I guess my expectations were too high. Good location, no doubt about it – but not an exceptional one.
There were bowls still in the cabinets! It’s as though one day the hotel was operating and the next everyone just left – I always wonder what’s the story behind a place left like this.
Your shots are beautiful and the video helps get a feel of the whole place, it’s great that you shared them.
Hey Lena,
I once explored an abandoned ryokan with shelves full of bowls and cups and stuff like that. In one room I even found big plastic containers full of dishes wrapped in old newspapers, just ready to be picked up… and they never were.
I think I could open two or three hotels with all the (still useable) equipment I saw and left behind over the past 3 years.
Wow, it’s such a shame that this happens…
Yeah, but at the same time I am happy that it does – otherwise there would be less for me to take photos of…
I don’t think I have the guts to visit these places, so its really nice to read it from your blog and as always, great shot 🙂
Even after years of exploring I always have a strange feeling when approaching a location for the first time. Sometimes it goes away after a couple of minutes (the Kuroshio Lodge was actually one of those places), sometimes it stays with me for the entire time. Then I’m glad when I have seen everything, so I can get the heck out of there without having the feeling that I missed something.
As always a strange but interesting post. Like other commenters, I thought the same thing when I was looking at your photos ~ too bad the chairs, bowls, plates weren’t taken by someone who could put them to better use.
On the one hand it seems like a waste of resources, on the other hand it’s those items that make abandoned places like the Kuroshio Lodge worth visiting. Imagine somebody would have taken the plates, the chairs, the mirrors and the orange / yellow lamps… Then the Kuroshio Lodge would have lost another 90% of its appeal. Except for a few places like the *Nakagusuku Hotel* it’s the items left behind that make abandoned places interesting – and that more often than not reveal things about their history.
(It’s the same with factories – if you remove the machinery they lose 99% of their appeal. There more that’s left behind, the more interesting an abandoned place usually is.)
Intriguing blog off the conventional path. I enjoyed the personalized writing very much, and these are places that I would want to photograph too!
Thanks a lot Roo! Urbex blogs that only show some photos of locations don’t appeal to me very much. I want to know more about the location – its history, what is special about it now that’s abandoned. And of course I want to know a little bit more about the explorer(s) once I became a regular reader. So I guess it’s only natural to give what I am looking for in others. 🙂
What amazing shots!
Thanks a lot! 🙂
O wonder what got you interested in photographing abandoned hotels. I have never thought to want to take a look inside of old hotels but, I doubt that I would find the same thing here. Very interesting though.
Oh, abandoned hotels are actually kind of my least favorite locations, unless they are exceptionally unusual. I love abandoned hospitals and amusement parks, but they are rather rare and often in populated areas; or they have security…
My work in South Africa used to take me to many inner-city buildings, some up to 4 storeys high and additional basements – all abandoned. There was a certain serenity in those buildings. That and the most amazing abandoned things in them.
I’d have loved to know the story of some of them.
I often hear that demolition companies are allowed to take whatever they deem valuable before taking down a building – it must be extraordinatry exciting to go through some stuff officially… also I guess most buildings / apartments are just trashed in South Africa, too.
Thanks for visiting our blog!
I’m a sucker for the Weekly Photo Challenge…
Me too!
No way!! I used to live just around the corner from there in 1999. Wish I had known. 😦
Well, you can still go there…
Sometimes I spend hour to find a location – and then it turns out that it was demolished half a year ago. 😦
Thankyou for your “like”. The images in your blog are stunning, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of them!
Thanks a lot for subscribing! Please check out the “Best Of: Locations” page if you haven’t done yet – I’ve written about some pretty spectacular places in the past… 🙂
Fascinating and I love the photos, thanks for sharing.
Thanks a lot for your kind words!
My pleasure. 🙂
Really loved them, thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thanks a lot! The feedback on the Kuroshio Lodge was overwhelmingly positive – which is great, because although “regular places” are not necessarily my favorites to take pictures of it’s really good to know that people out there will appreciate them.
I know. I take photos a lot to aid my writing and I am always thrilled if others like them. I love to try different approaches to a subject, but you are right, people like things they can easily relate to. Carry on, love your work, regular or otherwise. I shall enjoy.
Awesome as always 🙂
Thanks! 🙂
Great gallery, I bet it was a really fun place!
It must have been back then and the lobby still is… I just wish the rest of the building would have been a bit more than just a rather dull hotel. (Yeah, I know, I can’t let go and should get over it… ;))
130 people can’t be wrong!
I’m actually quite overwhelmed by that number!
WHY? You should be proud!
Oh, I am actually positively surprised – I didn’t expect the Kuroshio Lodge to be that popular! 🙂
It was cool!
Thanks for liking my last post – your stuff looks really interesting, I look forward to seeing what else you are going to get up to!
Thanks – there is plenty to come and from May on I’ll kick into high gear… 🙂
That place would have been amazing in it’s heyday. I love the photo of the bath, too. I think seeing that abandonned made me sadder than the retro bar, stools and fittings. It seemed just so,… melancholy.
It is most appreciated!
See, the bath photo is a prime example where I have to step back and detach myself. I’ve seen so many of those blue baths in both open and closed hotels that it’s nothing special to me anymore – but I know that most of my readers have never been to Japan, so it’s actually quite interesting to a lot of people. I have to keep that in mind more often when I select photos for articles.
Looks like it was worth the effort to get there! Very cool. Thanks for sharing and thanks for stopping by Travel Oops! Cheers.